Barbeque Nation

"When you said let's go south this week, this wasn't quite what I had in mind," says my friend. "And when you said Barbeque Nation..."

We're parked in the Erindale shopping centre and he's looking at Barbeque Nation with a mixture of interest and a tiny hint of confusion. You can almost see the conjured visions of Texas-style brisket, maybe some cornbread, sticky ribs with a smoky char. Maybe it's because the last time I brought him to Erindale we went to Soul Food Kitchen, run by the late Alabama expat Victor Kimble, and we had oyster po boys and ribs. Victor even came out and played the blues on his trombone. I should probably have explained in advance. 

Barbeque Nation is very clearly and firmly an Indian restaurant, perched in a little complex opposite a big real estate office, and round the corner from the Schnitzel Haus. It's a rather corporate feeling, glass box shopfront but there's a warm welcome as we come in the door and a couple of seats in the window looking over towards the rest of the Erindale shops. 

The menu has all the classics - butter chicken, vindaloo, lamb rogan josh - with plenty of seafood dishes and a scattering of items from Goa. There's a serviceable wine list for its kind and plenty of Indian beers such as Kingfisher and Hayward. The palak papdi chaat is that lovely scramble of sweet and savoury - a spinach fritter piled high with plenty of chickpeas, spice and a hint of chilli with finished with a drizzle of sweet yoghurt. It's always a good dish to start with and here it's a loose mixture of crunchy chickpea and fritter paired with soft spice and yoghurt. 

A plateful of chicken tikka skewers are beautifully charry on the outside and suitably tender on the inside. It can be difficult to make a pretty standard dish exciting but this gets the job done without fanfare - a classic Indian chicken dish with plenty of smoky flavour and good grilling technique. In that respect, Barbeque Nation certainly lives up to its name and it would be nice if there was more emphasis on the barbecue and the flame in the menu.

Lamb feijoada is an intriguing addition to India's vast food culture by way of Goa, and here the Portuguese black bean and smoked meat stew is amped up with plenty of spice and enough chilli to make you turn to a refreshing gulp of Hayward beer (don't worry, you can ask for the curry to be served mild, medium or hot). The spice and chilli tend to shout over the top of the dish, giving it a bit more in common with a big lamb curry than a meaty stew. But that could also be a result of our enthusiastic request for plenty of chilli. With fluffy mounds of coconut rice, it's a dish that packs a punch. 

A solid aloo gobi - plenty of potato and cauliflower - rounds out the night, alongside a very reasonably priced basket of perfectly crisp pappadum and roti ($2). Service is impeccable, with the waiter switching out a water glass over an imperceptible smear and then bringing us some more pappadums to make up for it. 

There are a selection of traditional desserts such as gulab jamun - but if the heat from the curries is too much, then head across the road for a slab of Goodberry's frozen custard (vanilla with caramel fudge and chocolate bits).